Four arrested for alleged beating, robbery at Northampton apartment

NORTHAMPTON — Police say cooperation between officers in Northampton and Amherst resulted in the weekend arrests of four men who allegedly followed a city resident into his Walnut Street apartment, beat him up and took items including a flat-screen TV.

Northampton police arrested Ronald Phillips, 21, of Ward Avenue, Easthampton, at 2:57 a.m. Saturday on charges of larceny from a building and receiving stolen property under $250.

Capt. Scott Savino said Phillips was found inside a Walnut Street apartment with CDs and other items belonging to the resident hidden in his jacket.

The alleged victim, a male whose name and age Savino would not release, told police four men followed him from a bar to his apartment early Saturday, where they kicked and beat him and stole items from him.

Savino said the man was found sometime after 2 a.m. near Bridge Street Cemetery with lacerations to his face.

Also arrested in connection with Saturday’s incident were Satchel Ramos, 21, of New Haven, Conn., Alphonse M. Lauro III, 20, of East Haven, Conn., and Nicholas Robert Ferrigno, 21, of North Haven, Conn.

The three men were stopped by Amherst police while driving on North Pleasant Street around 3:15 a.m. Amherst Police Detective David Foster said officers observed suspicious behavior by the vehicle’s occupants and items that appeared to be out of place, including a large-screen television set.

A passenger in the car, identified as Maurice Lamar Edwards Jr., 21, of 170 East Hadley Road, Unit 127, got upset and yelled at officers and repeatedly reached down to the floor, police said. He was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.

After officers determined that items in the vehicle may have been related to the Northampton thefts, they summoned Northampton police to the scene, Foster said.

Northampton police arrested Ramos, the driver of the vehicle, on charges of larceny from a building, receiving stolen property over $250, receiving stolen property under $250, unarmed robbery, assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (shod foot) and possession of a class B drug (Suboxone).

Ramos will also be summoned to court on Amherst police charges of unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, failure to yield at an intersection and failure to use care in starting, Foster said.

Ferrigno was also arrested by Northampton police on charges of larceny from a building, receiving stolen property over $250 and two counts of receiving stolen property under $250.